The morning after the fire alarm, campus felt different. The air wasn't just cold; it felt charged, as if the incident had left a residue of paranoia. Students walked a little faster, glanced over their shoulders a little more. For Leo, it was confirmation. The battlefield was no longer just administrative or digital; it was environmental, psychological. Thorne was weaponizing the campus itself.
He checked his RP: 270. The drain from the two Guardian Protocols was constant. He had about four days before he'd need to renew them, costing another 100 RP. He needed a significant infusion.
Maya's node was at 96%, tantalizingly close. A successful negotiation with her coach should have pushed it to completion, but something was holding it back. Perhaps she needed to see the results, to feel the new training plan working in her body, not just in her mind.
Subject #8 was at 68%, a solid tactical alliance. The lead on Professor Finch was his most immediate actionable intelligence. He needed to know what the eccentric historian knew about Thorne's "talisman."
He found Professor Alistair Finch's office hours listed online: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10 AM - 12 PM, in the bowels of the old Humanities building, room H-114B. The "B" was telling—often a sub-basement, an afterthought.
At 10:15 AM on Thursday, Leo navigated the labyrinthine corridors of the Humanities building. The air grew colder and damper as he descended a narrow flight of stone stairs. H-114B was at the end of a poorly lit hall lined with forgotten-looking doors. A small, brass plaque read simply: "Prof. A. Finch - Hist. of Science & Esoterica."
He knocked.
"Enter,if you dare the dust!" a reedy, cultured voice called out.
Leo pushed the door open. The office was a breathtaking chaos. Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves groaned under the weight of ancient tomes, stacks of yellowed papers, and curious artifacts: a dusty orrery, a brass astrolabe, a human skull wearing a pair of pince-nez. In the center of the storm sat Professor Finch. He was a slight man in his late sixties, with a wild halo of white hair and bright, bird-like eyes behind thick spectacles. He wore a tweed jacket with leather elbow patches that looked fused to his body. His aura was a fascinating mess—swirls of deep indigo (knowledge), playful amber (curiosity), and startlingly, thin, defensive threads of the same sickly violet that laced Thorne's, though much fainter, as if he'd been exposed to a similar source but had resisted infection.
"Ah! A visitor! And not a lost janitor! Marvelous!" Finch chirped, setting down a magnifying glass he'd been using to examine a crumbling map. "State your business, young man, before the dust mites carry us both away."
"Professor Finch, my name is Leo Vance. I'm a sophomore in Computer Science. I'm developing... an interest in the history of non-standard computational models. I heard you might be the person to talk to about... alternative systems of knowledge and prediction." It was a vague, academic-sounding pretext, but it touched on the right themes.
Finch's eyes narrowed behind his glasses, the amber curiosity intensifying. "Vance, you say? Not related to the board-of-trustees Vances, are you?"
"Distant cousin," Leo said, which was technically true for most branches of the sprawling family.
"Interesting. And 'non-standard computational models.' A delightfully anodyne phrase. You could mean Babbage's Difference Engine, or you could mean scrying with a pool of mercury." He leaned forward, his voice dropping. "Which is it, Mr. Vance? The mechanics of logic, or the logic of magic?"
The directness was disarming. "The line where they seem to blur, Professor."
Finch stared at him for a long moment, then let out a cackle. "Oh, I like you. You have the careful speech of someone who knows more than they're saying. Sit, sit!" He gestured to a chair precariously balanced on a pile of journals.
Leo sat. "I've also heard... that you have expertise in certain artifacts. Ones that might fall into that blurred category."
The playful amber in Finch's aura dimmed, replaced by a wary indigo. The faint violet threads seemed to vibrate. "Artifacts," he repeated slowly. "What sort of artifacts?"
"Ones that might be consulted. For insight. For... mapping social or intellectual landscapes." Leo was treading carefully.
Finch's face went still. He removed his spectacles and polished them slowly on his tie. "You're talking about the Ludus Saeculorum. The Game of the Ages. Or what fragments of it remain."
Leo's heart skipped a beat. A name. The system in his mind hummed, cross-referencing. Nothing.
"The what?" he asked, letting genuine curiosity show.
"A theoretical meta-system, proposed by a cracked 18th-century German mystic and part-time mathematician," Finch said, his tone now lecturing but edged with something darker. "Johann Feldmann. He believed human history was not a linear progression, but a cyclical game played by unseen forces. These forces would occasionally embed... tools... into the world. Tools to read the board, to move the pieces. He called them 'Ludus Stones.' Most historians dismiss him as a lunatic. A few... take him more seriously."
"And you, Professor?"
Finch sighed,a sound like pages turning. "I believe Feldmann was observing something real, but interpreting it through a cracked lens. There are objects in this world, Mr. Vance, that defy standard material analysis. They resonate with human consciousness in specific ways. They are not magic. They are... focused psycho-reactive artifacts. Relics of older, forgotten paradigms of mind-matter interaction."
He was describing Nexus artifacts. From a scholarly perspective.
"Have you ever seen one?"Leo pressed.
Finch's gaze drifted to a locked glass cabinet in the corner. Inside, on a velvet cushion, lay a small, dull grey pebble. It looked utterly ordinary. But the faint violet threads in Finch's aura seemed to originate from that cabinet.
"I have a... sample," Finch said quietly. "A fragment of a fragment. Inert, mostly. It gives me headaches if I handle it too long. A faint sense of... directional pull towards conflict or convergence. Useless, really. A curio." He looked back at Leo, his eyes sharp. "Why do you ask, Mr. Vance? Has someone shown you a shinier stone?"
The question was a trap and an offer. Leo decided to risk a partial truth. "Someone in authority has... hinted at possessing such a tool. They implied it gave them unique insight into student dynamics. It felt... invasive."
Finch's face darkened. "Thorne," he spat the name like a curse. "She has one. A large one, if rumors are true. Obsidian, with silver tracery. She calls it her 'compass.' She brought it to the archives committee ten years ago, demanding it be catalogued under 'Proprietary Predictive Analytics.' I argued it was a Feldmann-type artifact, a piece of the Ludus Saeculorum, and should be studied, not weaponized. We had a... vehement disagreement. She won. The board values her results. She has used that stone to streamline admissions, predict donor behavior, and break at least two tenure disputes before they began. It makes her terrifyingly effective. And it is eating her alive."
The professor's voice trembled with passion. "Those artifacts, Mr. Vance, they are not tools. They are relationships. They reflect and amplify the user's deepest drives. Thorne's drive is order, control, efficiency. The stone amplifies that. It shows her the fractures in systems, in people, so she can 'fix' them—which to her means making them predictable, compliant, optimized. And to sustain its function, it... feeds. On disorder, on emotional turmoil, on the very human chaos it helps her suppress."
This aligned perfectly with the system's research. The parasitic nature. The feedback loop.
"Can it be stopped?" Leo asked.
Finch leaned back, looking suddenly very old and tired. "Stopped? You break the connection. You shatter the stone. But that is dangerous. The released energy... it could scar a mind. Or you... provide a counter-resonance." He peered at Leo intently. "Feldmann wrote that the Ludus Stones were drawn to 'natural players'—individuals who could affect the game without a stone. He called them 'Nexus Points.' They were supposed to be the true players, the stones merely crutches for the lesser-minded." He gave a dry chuckle. "Fantasy, of course. But an intriguing one. A person who builds genuine connections, who mends fractures not for control but for wholeness... such a person, in Feldmann's mythology, would be a living anathema to a stone like Thorne's. A source of constant, frustrating noise in its clear signal of control."
He was describing Leo's role. Unconsciously, precisely.
"Professor," Leo said slowly, "if such a 'natural player' existed, what should they do?"
Finch's bright eyes locked onto his. The violet threads in his aura recoiled from Leo, as if repelled. The professor's expression shifted from scholarly curiosity to dawning, awestruck realization.
"My boy," he whispered. "You're not here about academic curiosity, are you? You're in the game."
Leo said nothing.
Finch let out a long, shuddering breath. "If such a person existed... they should be careful. Very careful. Thorne's stone will see them as the ultimate fracture to be fixed—or the ultimate threat to be eliminated. They should build their network. Make their connections deep, true, and resilient. A stone seeks to drain or control bonds. True, resonant bonds are its kryptonite. They should also..." He frowned, thinking. "They should learn the stone's rhythms. Its user will become more aggressive, more reckless, as the stone's hunger grows and its frustrations mount. There will be a peak, a moment of overreach. That is the time to act."
It was strategic advice. Build your army. Study your enemy. Wait for the mistake.
"Thank you, Professor," Leo said, standing. "This has been... enlightening."
"Wait," Finch said. He hobbled over to his desk, scribbled something on a scrap of paper, and handed it to Leo. It was a call number. "The Feldmann Diaries. The uncensored translation, kept in the restricted archives. It's dense, coded, half-mad. But if you want to understand the rules of the game you seem to be playing... start there. Use my name." He paused, his hand on Leo's arm. His grip was surprisingly strong. "Be wary, Mr. Vance. Thorne is not just a woman with a stone. The stone is changing her. Making her something... less human. She won't stop."
Leo nodded, pocketing the paper. "I understand."
As he left the dusty office, the system chimed.
[New Contact Solidified: Professor Alistair Finch - Scholar of Esoterica / Reluctant Expert.]
[Relationship: Informant & Potential Mentor (Cautious).]
[Intel Gained: 'Ludus Saeculorum' / 'Ludus Stones'. Confirmation of artifact's parasitic, amplifying nature. Strategic advice acquired.]
[New Objective: Access Restricted Archives - Feldmann Diaries.]
He had a path. He had a deeper understanding of the enemy. He also had a growing sense of urgency. Finch's warning about Thorne becoming "less human" was chilling.
His phone buzzed. A message from Maya, but it wasn't triumphant. It was strained.
Maya: "New training plan is... hard in a different way. Coach is watching me like a hawk. Feels like I swapped one pressure for another. Can we talk later?"
The hold-up. The 4% gap. The new plan had replaced the blatant pressure of overtraining with the subtle, scrutinizing pressure of having to prove the new strategy worked. She was feeling the weight of expectation again, just from a different angle.
He needed to see her. To reinforce the reframe. He texted back: "Track. 4 PM. I'll be in the stands."
He had a few hours. He went to the library, presented the call number and Finch's name, and after some suspicious looks from the archivist, was granted access to a small, climate-controlled room. The Feldmann Diaries were a single, massive, leather-bound ledger, the pages covered in cramped, spidery German script and bizarre geometrical diagrams.
He spent 20 RP on 'Focused Analysis (Linguistic/Pattern)', sat down, and began to read.
It was, as Finch said, half-mad. But amidst the rantings about "cosmic players" and "fate-lines," he found gems.
"The Stone sees the Crack but not the Wholeness. It knows the Hunger but not the Meal. It is a parasite upon the Garden, mistaking the flower for its fuel."
"The Nexus is not a point but a process. A weaving. The Stone seeks to cut the threads and measure their length; the Nexus seeks to tie them into a stronger net."
"Beware the Stone's Wielder when the Hunger peaks. They will see gardens as fields to be harvested, and weavers as rivals to be unmade."
And one passage, circled heavily:
"The resonance of a true Bond—what I call the Anima Nexus—is impervious to the Stone's drain. It is self-sustaining. To create one is to plant a tree in the desert of the Stone's influence. Multiple such trees become a forest, and within that forest, the Stone's bearer is blind."
It was a blueprint. Create Nexus-bound bonds. Lin was one tree. He needed more. Chloe's was a Partial Synchronization—strong, but perhaps not a full Anima Nexus. Maya was close. Subject #8... her bond was different, intellectual, tactical. Could it become one?
He left the archives with his mind buzzing. He had theory. Now he needed practice.
At 4 PM, he was in the empty stands of the university's outdoor track. The sky was overcast, the air biting. Below, Maya was on the track, alone, running intervals. Her coach, a burly man with a stopwatch, stood at the edge, his arms crossed, his gaze intense.
Leo watched. Maya's form was powerful, but he could see the tension in her shoulders, the way her head twitched slightly towards her coach after each lap. She was running for him, not for herself. The reframe was cracking under the pressure of a new audience.
He waited until she finished a set, bent over, hands on her knees, gasping. The coach said something, pointed at his clipboard, and walked away towards the field house. Maya stood up, looking drained and frustrated.
Leo descended the stands and walked over to the fence.
"Hey," he called softly.
She looked up, surprised, then managed a weak smile. "Hey. Witnessing the grand experiment."
"How did it feel?" he asked.
"Fast," she said. "But... hollow. He's got all these new metrics. Cadence, ground contact time, vertical oscillation. I'm not flying anymore, Leo. I'm a set of data points he's trying to optimize."
There it was. The core conflict had morphed. It was no longer just about the streak. It was about her agency within her own pursuit. She had traded an overt tyrant (the streak) for a subtler one (the data-driven coach).
"You made a deal for control," Leo said, leaning on the fence. "But he's interpreting control as micro-management. You need to reinterpret it for him. Again."
"How?" she asked, desperation creeping into her voice.
"Next interval," Leo said. "Don't run for his metrics. Run for the feeling. The flying. Ignore him completely. Let the data be what it is—a byproduct of you running free, not the goal. Show him that the best numbers come when you're not chasing numbers."
She stared at him, doubt warring with hope. "He'll yell."
"Let him.Then show him the stopwatch. If your theory is right—that your best performance comes from internal fire, not external pressure—then the time will prove it."
It was another gamble. But Maya was, at her heart, a competitor. She understood proving points.
She nodded, a fierce light returning to her eyes. "Okay. Okay. One for me."
She lined up for her next 400-meter interval. The coach, seeing her, raised his stopwatch. Leo saw him open his mouth, probably to shout an instruction.
Maya took off. And Leo saw the change immediately. Her head came up. Her gaze fixed on the far curve, not on her coach. The tension bled from her stride. She wasn't smoother; she was wilder, more powerful. She wasn't a machine executing a program. She was an animal running because it loved to run.
She crossed the line and immediately turned, chest heaving, to the coach.
"Well?" she demanded, her voice carrying across the track.
The coach looked at his stopwatch, then at her, then back at the watch. His scowl deepened, then shifted into a look of pure, baffled surprise.
"That's... a full second faster than your best this season," he grumbled. "What did you do differently?"
Maya walked towards him, her confidence swelling with every step. "I stopped listening to you and started listening to myself. The deal was for me to fight my way, Coach. This," she pointed at the track, "is my way. The data you want will come from this. Not the other way around."
It was a declaration of independence. The coach, a man who ultimately valued results over method, stared at her. He saw the fire in her eyes, the unshakable certainty. He saw a champion who had found her fuel.
He grunted, a sound that could have been annoyance or respect. "Fine. One more interval. Same thing. No thinking. Just... run."
Maya turned back to the starting line, and this time, she looked up at Leo in the stands. She didn't smile. She gave a single, sharp nod. A nod between warriors.
She ran again. Even faster.
And in Leo's Heartforge Space, the vibrant green tether didn't just brighten. It underwent a transformation similar to Lin's, but distinct. It didn't become a star. It became a torch. A blazing, green flame that burned steady and self-sustaining, fueled from within. The 'Node: The Undefeated Streak' dissolved.
[NODE COMPLETION: MAYA SANTOS - 'THE UNDEFEATED STREAK']
[BOND STATUS UPDATED: KINDRED SPIRIT & UNWAVERING ALLY]
[RESONANCE ACHIEVED: ANIMA NEXUS (TIER 1 - 'THE INTERNAL FLAME')]
[REWARDS:]
·+200 Resonance Points.
·'Resilience Synergy' Passive Unlocked: Leo gains a 15% increase in mental and physical stamina when in the presence of or actively supporting Maya Santos. Her determined spirit is contagious.
·'Competitive Insight' Skill Unlocked (Maya-specific): Once per day, Leo can spend 20 RP to intuitively identify the key psychological or strategic weakness in a single opponent or obstacle Maya is facing, with 80% clarity.
·Maya Santos gains 'Self-Sustaining Flame' effect: Her internal motivation and sense of self-worth are now primarily internally generated. External pressure and criticism will have significantly reduced impact. She is the author of her own drive.
The influx of RP was massive. 270 + 200 = 470. And he had created a second Anima Nexus, a self-sustaining bond impervious to Thorne's parasitic stone. A second tree in his growing forest.
Maya finished her run, conferring with her coach who was now nodding, making notes with a thoughtful expression. She looked up at Leo again, and this time, she did smile—a radiant, victorious, free smile. She raised a fist in the air.
He raised one back.
As he left the track, feeling the new synergy of resilience humming in his veins, his phone buzzed. Not a text. A system alert, triggered by his Nexus.
[URGENT SCAN DETECTED - HIGH INTENSITY.]
[SOURCE: CORRUPTED ARTIFACT (PROXIMITY: CLOSE - WITHIN 100 METERS).]
[TARGETING: MULTIPLE BONDS - PRIMARY TARGET: MAYA SANTOS (NEW ANIMA NEXUS).]
[ANALYSIS: ARTIFACT HAS DETECTED FORMATION OF NEW RESISTANT BOND. REACTION: AGGRESSIVE, FRUSTRATED SCAN ATTEMPTING TO PENETRATE/DISRUPT.]
He spun around, scanning the area. The track was empty except for Maya and her coach now walking towards the field house. The stands were empty. Then he saw her.
Evelyn Thorne stood at the far gate of the chain-link fence surrounding the track, half-hidden in the shadow of a large oak tree. She was not in her usual professional attire. She wore a long, dark coat, and her hand was in her pocket, likely clutching the obsidian stone. Even from this distance, he could see her white aura was now almost completely threaded through with violent, churning violet. Her gaze was fixed on Maya's retreating back with a look of cold, hungry fascination.
She had felt it. The creation of a new Anima Nexus. And it had drawn her like a shark to blood.
She turned her head, and her eyes met Leo's across the expanse of the track. There was no pretense of civility now. Her expression was one of pure, unadulterated avarice and fury. She had seen his handiwork. She knew he was building the forest that would blind her stone.
She didn't approach. She simply raised her other hand, the one not in her pocket, and pointed at him. A single, unmistakable gesture. You.
Then she turned and walked away, disappearing into the gathering twilight.
The message was clear. The subtle pressure, the audits, the chaos tests—they were over. The confrontation was now direct. She had identified her rival weaver.
And she would come for his garden.
(Chapter 14 End)
--- System Status Snapshot ---
User:Leo Vance
Resonance Points:470 (270 + 200)
Active Buffs:
· 'Soul Resonance' (Permanent – Lin Yao)
· 'Chaos Synergy' (Permanent – Chloe Chen)
· 'Resilience Synergy' (Permanent – Maya Santos)
· 'Digital Empathy' (Permanent)
· 'Guardian Protocol' (Active on Lin & Chloe. Duration: ~3 days each.)
Nexus Collection:2/???
·The Quiet Star (Lin Yao): Nexus-Bound. [GUARDIAN ACTIVE]
·The Internal Flame (Maya Santos): Anima Nexus (Tier 1). [STATUS: SELF-SUSTAINING]
Significant Bonds:
1. Lin Yao: NEXUS-BOUND.
2. Maya Santos: KINDRED SPIRIT & UNWAVERING ALLY (Anima Nexus - Tier 1).
3. Chloe Chen: TRUSTED ALLY & UNBREAKABLE PARTNER (Partial Sync - Tier 2). [GUARDIAN ACTIVE]
4. Subject #8: Tactical Digital Ally (Node: 68%).
5. Aria Vance: Trusted Confidante.
6. Prof. Finch: Informant/Mentor (Cautious).
7. Evelyn Thorne: EXTERNAL NEXUS AGENT (THREAT LEVEL: MAXIMUM). [STATUS: DIRECT CONFRONTATION / ACTIVE HOSTILITY. ARTIFACT HUNGER PEAKING.]
Heartforge Space:
· Lin Yao: Blue Star with Nimbus.
· Maya Santos: Blazing Green Torch (self-fueled).
· Chloe Chen: Solid Gold Tether with Nimbus.
· Subject #8: Complex Silver Geometry.
· Evelyn Thorne: Jagged Obsidian Shard (now pulsing with violent, erratic violet energy, lashing out against the space itself).
· Others: Stable.
System Directives:
· PRIMARY: DEFEND ANIMA NEXUS BONDS. Immediately assign Guardian Protocol to Maya Santos (50 RP). Consider upgrading Chloe's bond to Anima Nexus if possible.
· SECONDARY: FORTIFY NETWORK INTERCONNECTIONS. Create links between女主們 to build ecosystem resilience.
· TERTIARY: PREPARE FOR DIRECT ATTACK. Thorne will no longer use proxies. Anticipate actions targeting his academic standing, personal reputation, or direct threats to the girls.
· NEW OBJECTIVE: DEEPEN SUBJECT #8 BOND TO ANIMA NEXUS LEVEL. Her skills are critical for cyber-defense and intelligence.
· RESOURCE STATUS: RP is healthy (470) but will deplete quickly with Guardians and potential skill use. Must continue bond development.
· WARNING: Thorne's artifact hunger is at a dangerous peak. Her actions will be unpredictable and potentially reckless. The "moment of overreach" Finch warned of may be imminent.